The Hunter Chapter 7
The Secret
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Sword Art Online and Naruto belong to their respective creators and I am just using that, illegally, without explicit permission. Sue me. The only things that are mine are the ideas that I introduce in this fic.
Someone asked if I'll continue The Hunter till Alicization. I'll be honest, I've had plans of course, but mostly I'm just worried that most people won't accept an OC. We'll see how it goes, if it's good enough that people don't care about the fact that my Naruto here is basically an OC, then yeah, I'll go ahead and write it.
Amusingly enough, Kishi noted that when we began writing Hunter, there were at least three or four SAOXNaruto crossovers with an actual ninja Naruto. Now he can only find two, neither of which happen to be any of the original four. As far as I'm concerned, those that have a time to complain about the lack of real ninja Naruto's in this category might as well go and write one themselves.
Pictures on profile as usual. We welcome any assistance with those of course, and thanks to 12ose for all the pictures he already helped gather.
Soundtrack List
Two Steps from Hell – Black Blade
Stephanie – Friends
Yu Takahashi – Genjitsu to iu Na no Kaibutsu to Takatau Monotachi
Ai Kawashima – Kimi no Koe
Supercell - Kare
****The Hunter****
16th Floor Senatil Boss Room
Play Two Steps from Hell – Black Blade
"What in the world is that?" Siegfried breathed out quietly as they beheld the monstrosity standing before them. The slight fear in his question caused several members to shake slightly, rarely did the calm and composed man in blue armour ever show any outward signs and his emotions and the quaver in his voice shook them more than the Boss itself.
The lionesque monster shook its thick shaggy mane and roared ferociously with its vaguely humanoid face as it struggled against the large heavy chains that bound it to the far side of the chamber. Rearing back angrily, the monster flapped its humongous bat like wings, sending gusts that staggered the group of clearers easily. Three large tails tipped with a poisonous looking barb, each of them as long as the lion's body lazily flicked in the air as a large title card appeared over the Boss.
Neiquel the Manticore Lord.
Two other manticores, slightly smaller in stature but no less dangerous looking melded out of the shadows that covered the far side of the chamber and roared challengingly as they guarded the Boss' flanks.
"Groups 1, 2 and 3 will engage the Boss first," Naruto ordered, standing form against the buffeting winds, "1 and 3 will hold off the sub Bosses while Group 2 will directly combat the Boss. Adjust as you see fit unless I say otherwise. Watch out for their tails, fangs and mouths. Breath attacks are highly probable and if I remember my mythology right, they can use those barbs on their tails as projectiles as well. The main Boss is chained but I wouldn't depend on it too much."
Slowly, the three groups began to fan out and edge closer towards their respective targets.
It was almost tradition as the three Groups stopped just short of the waiting Manticores, waiting for a signal from their support. The moment the first Bow released its burden with a twang, the clearers charged with a roar while those who weren't already on the front lines observed and analysed their opponent's every movement.
"The Boss attacks somewhat randomly, so we'll have to watch out for that but the little ones are easier aren't they?" someone commented quietly.
"The tail attacks the same way, the first tail will whip out, followed by the second while the third sweeps them up into the air. From then, whatever Neiquel does is random, but the little ones try to bite them isn't it?"
"Ah, you're right. Group 2, you hear us right?! Keep your heads on and just see what out for whatever that stupid kitten is about to do!"
"OSU!" feeling a little emboldened by their comrade's support, Group 2 began to push on with an almost feverish pace, jabbing back Neiquel's paws with spears and halberds and deflecting the tail sweeps before their Sweepers went to work on the Boss himself. Every so often, one or two members would back away to recover their health. Almost without missing a beat, the members beat out a rudimentary cycle where someone who was low on potions and crystals would dart to the supply crates and refill before darting back into the fray, all the while being cheered on by the watching members who were unable to take part directly due to a space restriction. There was barely enough space for 48 players to surround each boss and still have enough room leftover to dodge and attack properly without getting hit by their own support as it was.
"Don't get too confident." The blonde who stood out even amongst the group of heavily armoured archers called out gravely, "We're all still just on the first bar. We don't know if this pattern sticks or they switch it up when they hit a certain point."
"You're being a killjoy Naruto!" He heard Kline laughing it off from somewhere amongst the melee fighters, just as a strange ominous fanfare began playing in the background.
The blonde himself merely smirked, "I bet you're regretting that right about now."
The Manticore reared back again and beat its wings, sending those were caught off guard to the ground shortly before breathing out a strange green fog out onto the amassed players.
"That doesn't look like any status attack I've seen so far!" Someone shouted with slight hysteria.
"Our Health Points didn't drop either." Siegfried commented in his usual soft spoken manner, "But that strange sound isn't going away. In fact, it's changed."
"What is that sound anyway?" Naruto muttered as the clearers warily continued to wail on the oversized Floor Boss.
"I'm not sure... it sounds like beeping." A slightly more wary Kirito who had excused himself from the front lines to ensure that nothing was really wrong commented from the safety of the door.
"Yeah, I kind of have ears too." The blonde archer retorted before turning back to face the boss, "Whatever it is, I've never heard of good beeping."
"Give me a second and I'll check properly." The blonde could hear his friend tapping on his interface while he continuous rained spears on the oversized pig, "Huh?"
That one confused 'Huh' probably scared the blonde more than a censored swear, "What? What's wrong?"
"Kirito looked up at the worried with his brows furrowed tightly, "I can't open my inventory and there's some sort of countdown slapped on it." He gave the boss a sparing look before calling out to the rest of the clearers, "Does anyone else have that problem?!"
Naruto chewed on his lips with a gleam in his eyes as he surveyed the clearers, evaluating the situation, his hands almost seemed like they belonged to someone else as they continued to fire off spears with disturbing accuracy, spiking the tentacles to the walls with ease despite his inattention as panicked yells of realization began to sound through the chamber.
"Keep your heads people!" The blonde finally thundered so that his voice could reach even the furthest of the clearers, "Groups 4, 5 and 6! Get ready to replace anyone whose inventory has been affected! Ravagers, move out and try to keep the Manticores too confused to focus on them! On Three!"
Reassured by the man's strong and firm voice, the players began to regroup around each other, primarily focusing on staying alive without the support of any potions or crystals while a small squad of five archers broke from Naruto's squadron and swiftly ran towards the melee.
"THREE!"
The Ravagers began darting up the Manticore's limbs into order to fire their load of small spears directly into the Boss' eyes and mouth, annoying it the way a fly would as the players below them began to move.
A colourful wave of players broke away from the Bosses as another one slipped between the gaps of the first; a few of them even managed to high five the replacements with good cheer. The first wave containing the replacement Tanks were led by a roaring Egil as they surged forwards, pushing the large lion and it's two smaller friends backwards with their shields, axes or bodies, allowing the Ravagers to disembark safely and return to cover behind the Sharp Shooters.
All this happened during a span of less than a minute as every player moved with a smooth confidence.
"Watch out for his tail," the blonde called out just to be safe, "and remember! Three beats pause and his fangs or claws come into play. If it comes in high, roll away to the sides, if it comes in low, defend and try not to get knocked off your feet!"
The blonde himself slowly retreated to the open gates and seemed to station himself by the doors, watching over the fighters with a stony expression, a stark contrast with how he usually held himself as a light buzz of chatter could be heard from the resting players behind him.
"It was a little dicey there for a moment but this is surprisingly easy isn't it?" A resting Asuna commented with a spark in her eyes, "Do you think we're finally getting stronger?"
"We have to be. We're used to all their standard moves since we train with normal weapons on a daily basis, mostly thanks to the blonde idiot over there," Lightning grudgingly jerked her chin at the blonde who stood at the entrance silently, "All we need to do is watch out for their gimmicks. As long as we watch out for his movements, getting our inventory sealed isn't really a problem."
The blonde who was still standing at the very edge of the chamber and silently surveying everything with a driven expression that Argo had jokingly taken to calling his Game Face, simply nodded slowly in response as something managed to catch his attention.
A worried Asuna frowned at him as she walked up to the stone faced blonde, it generally didn't bode very well for whoever happened to be on the receiving end of the blonde's Game Face, "What are you looking at over there?"
The blonde motioned towards the left most team that seemed to be a part of Group 4, assigned to keeping the left Manticore busy, "They're interesting."
"Oh them?" The girl beside him sighed with some relief, "They're pretty good aren't they? They're fairly new as well."
"You know them?"
"She shrugged lightly, sending her long brown tresses bouncing, "They only just managed to join the clearers within the last few floors or so. We occasionally meet up for lunch and just chat I guess." At the blonde's long questioning look, Asuna grinned, "Just me and the girls. No need to get jealous." She added jokingly.
"Hmmm..."
Unlike the rest of them who had switched out with the replacement teams, this particular team continued to stay on the battlefield even though he was fairly sure that they had been doused by the green fog as well. It wasn't that strange as a whole if they truly managed to avoid every single attack.
Doubtful, but possible.
The group of five composed of three tanks and two sweepers seemed to retain their cheerful disposition as they dodged the whip like tails. Just when they were very nearly clear of the second one, the last one managed to catch the slower leader by the chest, sending him flying with ease. As the dark haired boy landed with grunt, Naruto's eyebrow slowly rose as he noticed another girl run up to him and apply a crystal that she had grabbed from the supply chests to his chest.
The tank seemed to thank his friend, a cheerful girl with green hair, before rejoining the rest of the team. The girl herself stuck to walls, staying away from the green fog while she kept an eye on her team's overall health bar.
"Asuna?"
"Hmmm?"
"Go for lunch with me tomorrow."
The girl stared at him shock, "Wh-wha-what? Li-Like a date?"
Naruto gave her a strange look before elaborating, "I mean call your friends out tomorrow and introduce them to me. I think I'm about to owe them a very big lunch."
Ignoring the glare stabbing into his back, the blonde turned around; white cloak whipping around him as he beckoned to the resting members, deliberately sending a vicious grin that no one else could see at the man in the red robe standing apart from everybody else.
Heathcliff narrowed his soft brown eyes at the blonde as a tacit understanding passed between both of them.
An understanding that the blonde was about to screw up Sword Art Online even more that is.
Naruto smiled widely, "New plan. We're having fried pussy tonight."
****The Hunter****
Play Stephanie - Friends
"Look at that idiot. He's dancing like a complete fool." Argo muttered with a sweat drop as their blonde friend wildly danced around the bonfire, limbs flailing wildly and a dopey grin on his face. Naruto, loudly laughing, grabbed Kline and the two of them swung around like cackling mad man, putting every other person around the bonfire in danger of being slapped silly.
"Maa, let him be." Asuna sighed in relief as she leaned against a boulder sipping from a bamboo container, "This is the first time he's ever been to the After Boss party. He must be feeling really happy for once."
"For once?" The small girl inquired with a curious twitch of her nose, "I know that this is probably the first time we cleared a boss without a single death, but for once?"
The taller girl gave her a knowing glance, "I'm not saying anything since I know you're just going to sell that information."
"I promise I won't," Argo replied with mock graveness, eliciting a giggle from the brown haired girl, "Pinky swear and hope to die." She winked in a conspiratorial manner, "Come on, even I like to gossip about men from time to time."
The princess of the Knights of the Blood glanced at the kimono clad girl beside her who was too engrossed in watching Naruto dance like a mad man, his long yellow pony tail flicking around like a pseudo tail, to notice their conversation "You know how that idiot is." Asuna shrugged, "He won't really say it but dealing with the KoB's upkeep has been a little tough on him lately, what with all the new members we've been getting. This is the first time in a while that I've seen him so….. carefree I suppose"
"I guess you have a point." Argo glanced at the blonde with an appraising eye, "That's why I'm never going to join a guild, it's just idiocy sometimes."
"What do you mean?" Asuna asked with a curious glint.
"I suppose you wouldn't know since you haven't played MMORPG's before," Argo leaned back into her seat and stared into the depths of her container with a strange melancholic look in her eyes, "This concept isn't even something you could call new. Be it game or real life, it's not that strange to find a place where people gather and pool their resources to achieve something they can't as an individual."
"What's wrong with that? That's exactly like how real life companies function." Asuna pointed out curiously.
"You're thinking about real life where agreements are enforced by legal contracts. In online games like this where there's no clearly defined authority structure, every single person's liability is limited only to their avatar." Argo replied softly, "Even if Sword Art Online takes that concept a little further that sort of mind-set is a little hard to change. Everybody but the most decent people will always be looking out for himself and the responsibility of collating and maximizing those resources still falls on the shoulders of the most capable leader. It's not improbable that he would have to deal with strong minded, passionate people clashing with each other, questioning his authority, or those that seek to overthrow him and bring them all together."
"So…. you are saying that he shouldn't be doing this?"
The short girl seemed to smile briefly, "Don't get me wrong, Naruto is a strong person but with circumstances like this, where the risks are as large as the rewards, it wouldn't really be unexpected to see him lose faith in himself. In any other game, the most any leader would risk is their member's faith and their guild's disbanding, but in this game he risks that much more. A burden like that can change a person, and not always for the best."
The small cat like person seemed to shake off the sudden melancholy air, "Ah… I'm sorry for going off on such a depressing topic. I'm sure that Ruto-bou will be fine once he gets used to it."
With that half-hearted assurance, Argo was about hurriedly disappear into the descending darkness on her quick feet when a warm hand caught hers with an iron grip.
"Is…. something wrong Asuna-chan?"
"Did something happen to you before?" the girl's soft and melodious voice contained a hint of steel to it.
"Something like that," Argo admitted when she realized that Asuna was not about to let her go, "I used to play another game where I joined a guild. It was a small and comfortable guild, so you could say I didn't take it very well when the guild was disbanded due to some infighting even though I thought it was too much trouble to help fix it. Pitiful isn't it? Getting attached to someone whose face you don't even know." The shorter girl awkwardly tried to laugh it off with a half-smile when the grip on her hand softened.
"Naruto won't change." Asuna paused and seemed to correct herself, "No, I can't say that, but even if he changes, I promised him already. No matter what happens, I'll always be there to support him."
"Then you're a braver person than I will ever be."
****The Hunter****
21st Floor – Mortexia
Play Yu Takahashi – Genjitsu to iu Na no Kaibutsu to Takatau Monotachi
Lightning drew in a deep breath as she took the appropriate stance with a short sword held loosely in both hands. The lithe girl lunged forward with her body angled lowly to her ground, stopping just short of the house sized spider she was fighting and using the momentum to whip the sword in her right hand at the creature, the blade pulsed with a deep crimson glow as a Sword Skill activated, "Savage Fulcrum." She whispered as she stabbed it into the spider's cluster of basketball sized eyes.
Savage Fulcrum was a rather high level Sword skill whose main benefit was its five hit rapid combo that enabled the user to keep her target stunned for the duration of the five blows, though its main drawback of having rather low damage per hit kept it from being too overpowered. Then again, damage output wasn't really a concern for her at the moment as a red comet hurtled through the air and buried itself deep in the spider's forehead.
There was a short paused before another spear took out the spider's last eye, causing it to emit a loud clicking howl as it reared back on its feet.
"You're too slow, Joker. Your timing is off by 0.6 seconds." The pink haired girl growled as she whirled around, the blade in her left hand lashing out like a whip for another Staccato, carving a hole deep in the spider's chest and draining the last of its health. Without even pausing to wait for the blue pixels to fade away, the pink haired girl immediately moved onto the next spider with a ferocity befitting her in-game name.
"Not everyone is as driven as you." Wedged between several branches a top a tree in the middle of valley, Naruto gave himself a brief moment to rub his strained eyes tiredly as he tried to reacquire the new target through the dim lighting. Training with Lightning was like playing one of those time limit games where you had to kill as many monsters as possible.
The permanently dark atmosphere made to emulate eternal night, the slobbering, eight feet tall spiders and the black castle that stood in the background while lightning thundered around it really didn't help the comparison. It just reminded him of those horror games where you had to stay alive no matter the cost.
Sunshine Valley indeed.
Someone had a seriously twisted sense of humour.
Darting around the battle field like a tornado with her shoulder length hair unfurling behind her, Lightning sent a replying growl back at him, "Why don't you come down from your nice and comfy tree and say that to my face?"
A spear buried itself in the ground beside her. Lightning spun around and was about to chastise the blonde for missing when the ground seemed to writhe with a splash of spider fluid as a nearly transparent spider that had been creeping up on her died painfully.
"That's why." The blonde up on the tree fired back sarcastically, "That's the twentieth Creeper that I had to deal with since you only focus on what's in front of you."
A blade buried itself beside him and Naruto paled as he heard something squealing directly in his ears. The blonde whipped around with a gleaming spear, "Thrust."
The somewhat smaller spider compared to the ones Lightning had been dealing with writhed, all eight limbs flailing as it was impaled directly through the head before the blonde let go of the spear and rammed it deeper into the spider with a kick before tumbling is way down the other side of the tree.
When the blonde landed, he nervously gazed around the area, wiping the non-existent perspiration of his brow as the dead spider landed with a dull thud; the archer glanced behind him where Lightning was simply staring at him with a mocking smirk and an arched brow.
"Point to you."
Lightning scoffed and flicked back her bangs as another short sword appeared in her off hand with a blue blur, "Watch your own back before you talk the next time. This is why you can't train with Asuna and Kirito anymore. You're so busy playing hero that it's almost sickening."
Actually, it probably had more to do with the humongous spiders if the way she screamed blue murder and ran all the way back to the first floor was any indication.
Wisely enough, the blonde chose to keep his thoughts to himself. The blonde pulled himself to his feet with a groan, "Let's just continue. We're nearly at the castle already and I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary."
"Fine," The woman standing beside him agreed with a reluctant nod, "Now that you mention it, I can't even remember how long we've been here."
A little over half an hour later by the blonde's estimation, the two of them finally managed to cut a path through the sparse valley of trees. At the very end of the valley, the two players came upon the castle that had been hanging in the background the entire time.
"So this is the 21st's floor's dungeon huh?" The woman beside him muttered as she gripped her swords a little tighter.
"Cheesy but strangely effective." The blonde murmured as the squinted up at the castle's massive pair of doors made of dark, rusty steel. The very tops of the gates were obscured by strange black fog, to say nothing of the rest of the castle.
Behind him, Lightning glanced at her clock, "We still have time. Let's go in and see if we can make a rudimentary map."
He gingerly touched the pitted steel and pushed it open a little to peer into the darkness with a frown as he heard something clicking behind the gates, "What is that sound?"
"What level is your Detection?"
Naruto thought for a while, "Bout 600?"
"Mine is only 500." The pink haired warrior smirked and motioned at the door, "Ladies first." Prompting the blonde to roll his eyes and crouch at the door, slowly edging his way in with a spear at the ready before abruptly lunging through.
Staying low to the ground, the blonde whirled around as Lightning followed him in, visibly annoyed by his childish antics, "Clear!"
Standing up, Naruto gave the pink haired woman a stupid grin, "I've always wanted to say that." He added just in time to pale as a house sized spider fell out of the ceiling, landing directly behind him with a massive crash. The blonde grit his jaw and whirled around with a spear already notched and drawn when the large arachnid swiped at his bow with a claw tipped limb. The blonde twisted the bow and released the spear directly into the spider's basketball sized eyes a split second before his bow received the heavy blow instead of him. The Lilt Wood bow was barely able to withstand the claw before it buckled and shattered even as the spider reared back in pain; the force of the blow sending the archer flying backwards into Lightning along with the shards of what used to be his bow.
Grunting, the pink haired woman in the cream white uniform barely held onto the larger blonde before she managed to recover her footing, "Thanks." She heard her friend mutter briefly before he staggered back onto his feet with another spear already at hand as the injured arachnid began rumbling towards them again.
Frowning, Lightning clamped a hand on his shoulder and forcefully pushed him behind her, "Get back, you don't have a bow."
"I'm not completely useless without a bow, you know."
In short order, several similarly sized spiders fell all around them and the two of them were instantly thrown into an almost frantic blur of action as they began bashing, stomping and killing spiders.
"Clear?" Lightning scoffed amidst a frenzy of graceful slashes. A yellow blur lanced through the gap of her attacks in a fluid motion, complimenting her barrage of light but rapid slashes with his slow and heavy spear. The spear pierced her target before lifting it up into the air and bashing it into the ground repeatedly, "Your definition of clear needs some adjustment."
The yellow blur huffed as he skewered another three smaller spiders on top of the one already pinned to his spear and spun them around like a wind mill before throwing the screeching beasts into a deep chasm along with his spear, "I might have forgotten to look up."
"Forgotten?" There was an almost hysterical disbelief in her question, "How can you forget to look up?"
"Quite easily. Actually, does anyone ever look up?" The blonde muttered.
"I would!"
"Oy vey, now I know why your sister refuses to train with you." The blonde punctuated his words with a series of vicious curses and stomps, "Everything has to be just right with you doesn't it?"
"What the hell does that mean?" Lightning whirled on the blonde with one blade dripping with spider guts directed at him threateningly.
Naruto smirked snidely as he gingerly pointed the disgusting blade away, "It means whatever the hell you think it does."
"What? You have a problem with me?"
"Who doesn't, you damned gorilla of a woman!" Naruto countered just as a loud hissing interrupted them, an absolutely oversized spider rearing its head at them before lunging at them with a series of disturbing, clacking noises.
Naruto and Lightning both rounded on the interloper angrily and simultaneously punched the twelve foot tall spider with their bare hands. The spider's eight beady eyes bugged as its mandibles were crushed shortly before it was sent flying, "Can't you see that we're busy?"
****The Hunter****
19th Floor - Ralback
Serah heaved a heavy breath as she allowed herself to fall on her back, limbs splayed out in a completely unladylike manner, enjoying the feel of the soft grass underneath her.
Kirito smiled faintly and continued chewing on his blade of grass, "I think that's enough for today. You've improved quite a lot."
"Neh, Kirito," The girl on the grass grinned widely up at the boy dressed entirely in black who as he stared up at the sky with a faraway expression, "Thanks for helping me out today."
The dark haired boy seemed to snap out of his day dream to gaze at the pink haired girl as sent a victory sign at him. Smiling weakly, he brushed back the bangs obscuring his view, "It's alright. I promised after all and I didn't really have any training planned until later anyway."
The bubbly pink haired girl who was dressed in some cream white leather armour and brown hoses tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Yeah, but I really appreciate it. I know that something like Diagonal just requires me to hold the sword facing downwards, but I was really having trouble with the ones that needed more complicated stances, like how Rage Spike needs your body to be angled to the ground properly and you need to stab upwards at the perfect time."
Kirito chuckled softly and tapped the sturdy tree he was leaning on with a fist, "Seeing you keep crashing into a tree was amusing."
"Mou… Don't be so mean," Serah said with a pout as she pulled herself upright with a groan, "Getting a feel of the timing was really hard."
Kirito grinned at the girl's embarrassed expression, "And once you do, the real problem becomes learning how to set yourself up for a Sword Skill in the middle of battle. Because of the cool down between Skills you can't just keep shooting them off and something like that takes a lot of stamina."
"Yeah…." Serah agreed with a light frown before a grin replaced it, "I can't wait until I can fight as fluidly as you or even Naruto-san do… The way you two flow in battle, going from simple attacks, setting up the perfect window of opportunity to release a powerful blow."
"Well… I can't really say that I'm that good, but Naruto and his archers are something of a special case. They're not actually fighting as fluidly as you think."
"What do you mean?" Serah inquired with fascination.
"You already know that the opening stance is pretty much what triggers a Sword Skill right?" At the girl's curious nod, Kirito continued with a frown, "There's a reason why he only uses low level Spear skills. Beginner skills like Thrust only require that the user have skin contact with the spear's butt and thrust it forward. He takes advantage of that, holding onto it like he would an arrow and that's all it takes. Higher level Spear skills require stances that aren't possible in conjunction with a bow, so he more or less improvises."
"If anything… that's probably even more impressive that he just makes do with beginner skills like that and still be able to what most people can't." Serah pointed out with shining eyes, "I can't even do something simple like that."
"Don't worry about it. You'll get used to pretty soon," The dark haired boy threw her a bamboo container filled with water, "Speaking of Lightning, why didn't you just ask her or even Asuna for instructions? Both of them are actually better than me in terms of technical details, I just sort of go with the flow with what feels right when it comes to things like this."
The girl in the cream white armour grinned as she accepted the drink gratefully, "Asuna was the one who recommended you since you're one of the best sword users on the front lines." The young girl smirked knowingly, "Were you expecting Asuna-nee san to be here as well?"
Serah scuffed her boots on the hard packed earth beneath the tree with a sly pout, "Am I really that bad company that you have to talk about Asuna-nee san when you're with me?"
Kirito waved the teasing off with an uncomfortable smile, being put on the spot like that unnerved the teenager, "I was just curious. It was just so sudden that I was caught off guard, that's all."
"Tch. An answer like that isn't interesting…."
Dark eyes bugged at her, "What do you mean interesting? What's more interesting than getting out of this place before thinking about something like getting a girlfriend?"
"I mean, you're still young, you should say something like, 'I wouldn't have minded if she was here, then she could have seen me teaching you…'" Serah spun around with hearts in her blue eyes, "KYAAAH! So cool!"
Kirito sweat dropped as he struggled to find an appropriate response to that, were all girls this strange?
"So… uh… Lightning?" the dark haired boy prompted.
The pink haired girl seemed to snap out of her haze with a half-hearted smile, "Maa…. How do you say… Lightning… she gets a little too intense. Everything has to be perfect and…."
The dark haired boy's eyebrows rose questioningly, "And?"
"Well…. She won't stop nagging me about wanting to fight on the frontlines… so I wanted to learn as much as I can. I'll show her that I can fight just as well as her." The energetic girl pumped a fist into the air with a determined expression, "After I show her everything I learnt with you, she won't have ANYTHING to complain about anymore!"
"Complain about what exactly?"
Serah felt a chill run down her back as she turned around jerkily to see her sister coolly standing there with a raised eyebrow and her arms folded. Beside her, a decidedly amused Naruto swathed in his white cloak despite the summery weather sent her a foxy grin and a thumbs-up.
"Ehhh….." Serah desperately racked her brains for a way out, "I… I was thinking about learning the Sewing skill!" She stuttered unconvincingly, "Yeah, that's it! Armour's so expensive nowadays, ri-right, Kirito-kun?"
Lightning simply rolled her eyes as Serah tried to subtly strong arm the black haired boy into agreeing with her, keyword being tried.
His only response to give her a long look and yawn lazily.
"Use it for something more useful. There's no point learning it if you can't use it." She said shortly before striding off into town without another word, leaving a downtrodden Serah behind to stare at her retreating back until a large palm gently landed on her head and ruffled her hair affectionately.
"I think what your sister meant to say was that she'd rather pay the gold to get the armour rather than let you take a risk."
The pink haired girl smiled up at the tall man weakly, "Thanks, Naruto-san. Why were you two back so early anyway? My sister said that the two of you wouldn't be back till this evening."
"I said something, she said something, we got a little miffed at each other," The KoB member motioned at Lightning vaguely, "Then somewhere between her random mood swings and my imminent death, we somehow managed to map out the entire first level a little sooner than we expected." Naruto sweat dropped sheepishly, "I got the impression that the spiders were a little relieved to see us leave." Pushing off his tree, the man waved good bye at them over his shoulder, "I'll see you guys later for the quest right?"
"Try not to be late this time." The quiet dark haired boy retorted dryly.
"I'm just gonna take a nap, come wake me up or something."
"Sure thing, I have a knuckle sandwich alarm clock right here waiting for you."
****The Hunter****
20th Floor Sunshine City
Play Ai Kawashima – Kimi no Koe
The main city on the 20th floor wasn't exactly big enough to qualify as a city but the smoky atmosphere combined with old styled brick and wood buildings gave Asuna the impression that the city was set back in old England despite the obviously modern interior decorations as her white heels clacked on the stone paved ground on her way to the meeting at a small café situated right in the centre of town.
Naruto and Kirito 's excitement had been particularly contagious, especially when Argo had finally found the café since it seemed to be the starting point to a special quest. From the bits of complicated conversations that she had managed to pick up from the two excited boys while desperately trying to stem her annoying nosebleed was that the quest was one of five that opened every twenty levels and would reward them with an extra skill slot, something of a precious commodity to every player.
"Asuna!" A cheerful Tamamo waved at her from the small group which had already gathered in front of the three storey tall building.
"Asuna-hime! You're late!" Kline grinned from beside Tamamo.
The girl in white skidded to a stop in front of them and stooped slightly as she clutched at an imaginary stitch in her side, "I'm sorry about that, training ran a little late…"
"Translation, she was busy having too much fun torturing the new recruits that she lost track of time," The long haired blonde standing at the very back of the group teased her with grin, causing the miffed Asuna to stomp on his foot with her heels on her way into the café.
Ignoring the comically sobbing Naruto as he clutched at his foot, Asuna beckoned to her friends with her elbow hooked on a protesting Tamamo that wanted to comfort the blonde man, "What are you guys waiting for? Come on, I can't wait to see what this quest is all about."
"She's even more excited than us." Naruto muttered under his breath as Kirito patted his shoulder with a completely unsympathetic grin, "Stop looking like you're enjoying this so much." The blonde snapped at his friend.
Kirito's grin only grew a little wider as he casually stepped over the blonde.
Inside the little café on the top floor of the building, their little group was already crowded around the only NPC present, an old woman dressed in a black dress, with a white apron and a white bonnet set atop her neatly combed curls while a strangely soothing tune that sounded like there was an old gramophone hidden somewhere in the café played in the background.
"So what's the quest? What do we need to kill this time?" Kirito questioned dryly with a sullen Naruto trailing behind him, only to stop short as the entire group turned around with pale faces, "What's wrong? Why is everyone looking like that?"
"We uh….." Kline began haltingly until an impatient Argo elbowed him in the side, "We need to dress up like maids." The short girl noted shortly.
"Dress up like maids? What?"
Argo stepped aside and motioned at the NPC, she says that to complete this quest, every one of us has to dress up as a MAID for at least one hour and entertain the guests that come in."
"Maids? That's it?" Naruto shrugged easily while Kirito instantly went completely white, "Why not?"
"Wow…. He's pretty nonchalant about this isn't he?" Serah mumbled with a gleam in her eyes, "Do you think he's done it before?"
A trail of blood began leaking out of her nose.
Beside her, Asuna's beatific smile was marred by the same blood trail, "Why don't we let all the boys go first?"
"Wai-" Kline and Egil were about to protest loudly when a sly Argo stomped on their feet, causing them to yelp. Taking the chance, Argo slapped both their backs with a wide smile, "Agreed."
Shrugging offhandedly, the blonde man moved towards the changing rooms where a set had apparently already been prepared while the remaining three males had to be assisted into their respective changing rooms with a multiple kicks and shoves.
Egil was the first to appear, the black one piece dress with a knee length skirt was stretched over his wide and muscled chest, almost to bursting point as the little white bonnet looked strangely dainty atop his shaven dome.
"Pfft….. Argo…" Asuna barely managed to choke out, "Cyrstal."
The dark skinned axe user stood there, enduring the repeated flashes that slowly destroyed whatever remained of his pride and dignity when the changing room next to him opened.
Kline stepped out, staggering around on the dainty heels, "This feels strangely comfortable. Sort of… airy. But my feet hurt." The maid uniform fit him marginally better than it did for Egil but the bonnet looked as if it was tangled up in his spiky red hair while his red stubble clashed horribly with his black and white uniform.
"Oh Kami. Help. Can't breathe…" even Lightning had succumbed as she quietly choked to herself in a corner.
"Why not?!" The self-proclaimed samurai demanded with a strange falsetto, "I look good don't I?"
"Urk, stay away!" the pink haired woman shoved the man away from her as chills ran up and down her back every time she even glanced in his direction or heard his disturbing falsetto.
While the rest of them were busy teasing a brightly blushing Egil and a strangely comfortable Kline, Tamamo, Serah and Asuna waited for the remaining two males with bated breath.
Their hopes and dreams were finally answered when the first of the last two rooms opened for Kirito.
The raven haired boy's already fair skin and soft features only seemed to be enhanced by the maid uniform that he had been stuffed into as he stood there in booted heels.
Kirito who was blushing like a red light bulb tried to desperately shield his face with his hands a cackling Argo proceeded to take his pictures, "Why so shy Kiri-bou!? You look good in that don't you?! You might as well be a girl since you look so good in that maid outfit."
"GAH! I DON'T NEED THE SKILL SLOT. SCREW THIS!" Just as he was asbout to run back into the changing rooms, two arms clamped around his preventing him from going anywhere, even with his impressive strength stats, "Asuna? Serah? Wh-why are the two of you smiling like that?"
Tamamo quaked in a corner, her ears laid down flat at the mere sight of their horrible grins, "Serah-chan and Asuna-chan looks scary."
"You're not going anywhere, Kirito-kun." Asuna said while Serah smiled sweetly on Kirito's other side, "Not until we've finished this quest."
"What are you doing?"
"Having fun." Was the delighted answer.
The demise of Kirito's dignity was narrowly averted at the last second by the last changing room finally opening for a beautiful blonde woman to step out in a dainty manner, "It's a good fit, but I like my skirts a little longer." Naruto's long blonde hair had been let loose from its ponytail as it cascaded down his back in a golden waterfall, "Obaa-chan, do you have any longer skirts and some makeup?"
As the blonde woman casually walked past them with an air of complete grace and confidence, Serah and Asuna dropped to their knees while Tamamo squealed happily and jumped on Naruto with a purr.
"What's with this strange sense of utter defeat?"
Everyone else was a similar state of shock as the beautiful blonde glided over to the counter and began to expertly apply some eye shadow and lip gloss.
"Egil?"
"Uhhhh….?"
"Is it wrong to fall in love with another man?"
Egil scooted away from a drooling Kline.
Argo had long since dropped her recording crystal and had been reduced to a shaking lump of disbelief as she curled up in a corner.
"His breasts are bigger than mine!" Lightning cried out in disbelief, causing everyone to stare at her incredulously as the shocks just kept on coming.
"I didn't actually put those on, they came with the outfit," Over at the counter, Naruto pointed out dryly as he continued to stroke Tamamo's ears with a soft smile, calming her down significantly, "Tamamo-chan, do you want some make up as well?"
The young girl bit her lip and tried to nod as slowly as she could so that she could keep the blonde's hands on her head, "Here, close your eyes."
"He's better at being a woman than I am!" Serah wailed comically as Naruto began to apply some eye shadow and blush on Tamamo, "I don't even know what that powder was for!"
It was a very sullen hour that passed for everybody save Tamamo who was too busy staring at her mirror, giggling to herself every few seconds, and Naruto who flitted around the café serving cups of tea and cakes with a graceful smile while Kline, Egil and Kirito basically hid themselves in the darkest corner they could find with a cloud of gloomy despair surrounding them.
Things came to a particular head when several other clearers found their way to the café.
One of them whistled pleasantly as a beaming Naruto greeted them at the door with a chirp, "Table for five?"
The man that had whistled leered at the blonde woman, "Not bad at all. The quality of the NPC's here keeps surprising me every time I see one." His hand slowly made its way up the blonde woman's butt until he found something sharp and cold pressing against his crotch.
Naruto smiled sweetly as he pushed the dagger even deeper, one side of his skirt was hiked up to show a brace of daggers strapped to his thigh, "Would you like to keep that hand or that twig?"
"Eeep." Swallowing deeply, all three men slowly held their hands up in surrender as the blonde woman smiled sweetly and left them standing at the door like the proverbial group of spare pricks.
As Naruto continued to serve his customers with a bright smile, the man lost all strength in his knees and slowly slid to the ground with a dreamy sigh.
"I think I'm in love."
That was the day the Naruto fan club was officially born.
****The Hunter****
"Your cup of tea." Argo mumbled quietly as she set the cup of tea down with a loud clatter, prompting the blonde who had been staring out the window to glare at her, "That's not very polite."
"Bite me." Argo muttered under her breath.
"I don't swing that way," the blonde man who had his hair back in a neat pony tail dead panned as his hand continued to stroke Tamamo's hair fondly as she slept on his lap. Every stroke caused the slender girl to emit a rumbling purr from the very depths of her throat, much to everybody's amusement.
The girl with the bob cut glanced at where the old maid NPC seemed to be sleeping against the wall and sat down with some relief, "I never thought I'd see the day that I'd be wearing something as feminine as heels."
The blonde man snorted lightly as he glanced at the rogue. Deprived of her feature obscuring hood and bulky robes, the girl's short stature combined with the maid dress gave the sour Argo an air of unbearable cuteness that would have probably one hit kill any lolicons in the vicinity, "Why so serious? My heart even skipped a beat you know."
Argo rolled her shoulders in annoyance, "Flattery isn't going to get you any discounts."
"It was worth a try," The blonde admitted with a nod, "What news do you have?"
Argo gave him a shrewd look, "What's your offer?"
The blonde glanced around the café to ensure that no one was watching them before he plonked a sack full of jingling coins in front of the short girl.
The information dealer sighed, "You take the fun out of negotiation. Don't you know merchant etiquette?" When the blonde completely failed to react to her needling, Argo sighed with another roll of her eyes, "There's absolutely no thrill when you look at me all serious like that."
Discreetly pocketing the sack of coins that she knew without a doubt was every coin that the blonde could spare; Argo placed her hands on the table palms down, "I've heard some disturbing news recently. A few players have been going missing, mostly whenever they are training alone."
"Someone with a grudge against Beta testers?"
Argo frowned, "I thought about that too, but it doesn't look like it since quite a few of those went missing were well known anti-Beta testers. The only thing they seem to have in common was the fact that they liked to train alone. I have no idea if they were Player Killed or if they were just defeated by monsters." Anticipating the blonde's next question, Argo continued heedlessly, "The Monument of Life isn't very clear about it either since there could be any number of ways to kill indirectly."
The blonde nodded silently, "Please look it up for me."
Argo smiled half-heartedly and stood up with a wince, "Looks like it's back to the torture chamber for me."
Naruto smiled faintly, "I'll go and get some ice cream ready for you."
"Thanks, Ruto. You're a nice guy." Argo hesitated, "Don't change."
"I haven't changed…. But then, you don't really know what I'm really like either." Naruto leaned forward with a strange gleam in his eyes, "People tend to stay away from me when they do."
Argo had no idea how to interpret the man's strange words.
****The Hunter****
"That maid uniform looks good on you." Kirito teased lightly as a tired Asuna dropped into the seat across from him with a clatter. After their hour was finally over and the males had each received their new skill slots with much relief, it was the girls' turn to play maid for the day while the males took their turn as fake customers.
The brown haired girl grunted none too politely, "Walking around like that is tiring. I'm surprised Naruto didn't have any problem at all. Lightning hasn't even left the changing room yet."
"By this point, I'd be more surprised if the idiot did." Kirito mumbled, completely unashamed of the spite in his voice, "The idiot totally looked like he enjoyed prancing around the café in a skirt."
"You don't really have any right to say anything. All the three of you did was mope in a corner for an hour while the prancing idiot as you call him was the only reason you passed the quest." Asuna smiled wryly as she took a sip of comfortingly warm tea, "Then again, all the quest really needs us to do is dress up like this and serve a few people. We don't really need to be all serious about it, not that that old lady is watching anyway."
Kirito glanced at the sleeping lady and sighed heavily.
"Don't look so down." Asuna chastised him lightly, "Once you sit down and relax a little, this is actually a pretty nice place." She breathed in deeply, a light breeze playing with her long brown locks, as she enjoyed the scent of her hot tea and the sound of and old record playing in the back ground. All around the café, old windows of stained glass was thrown open, allowing a gentle breeze to blow in, stopping the interior of the small café from getting too stifling while colourful shadows danced around the varnished wooden floor.
As a whole, the little shop had the air of one of those quaint yet sophisticated little coffee shops that she imagined writers and college students would visit on a regular basis for some relaxation.
"I guess….. Though some better BGM would have helped," Kirito added with some amusement at the girl's content expression, "That scratchy old record kind of grates on my nerves especially when it just keeps looping over and over again."
"Go find Naruto and hold his hand," Asuna giggled evilly at the mental image as she urged the scared looking boy, "He has some music stored in his Nerve Gear."
"Why is your nose bleeding again?" The mood suddenly shifted as Kirito's eyes lit up with dawning comprehension, "Wait…. Are you sure that's exactly what he said? That he has music stored in his Nerve Gear?" the raven haired boy questioned with a piercing stare.
A little nonplussed, and more than a little afraid of his intensity, Asuna nodded slowly, "Why? What's wrong with having a music player in your Nerve Gear?"
"Sometimes I forget that you're not as familiar with gaming technology as us..." Kirito ran a hand through his hair with some frustration as he stared warily at the laughing blonde, "There's nothing wrong with having a music player per se, the problem here stems from the fact that Nerve Gears that were outfitted with music player hardware are basically extinct. Standalone music players were taken out nearly three years ago because there were too many complaints about them crashing and screwing with the sound systems already inbuilt into the game engines in most Virtual Reality games available at the time, so it was taken out in favour of better specs and capacity." Kirito gestured to emphasize his point, "Today, there are less than 100 Nerve Gears in existence with vanilla music player capability, and more than half of them belong to Akihiko Kayaba himself, the rest either belong to private collectors or are stuck in museums as an example of humanity's first step into the VR era. In fact, there's one in the Tokyo Miraikan the last time I looked, which was last October, and none of those have the capacity to run a game as advanced as Sword Art Online."
"Wha-What do you mean?"
Seeing the slowly dawning look of apprehension on her face, Kirito hesitated but pushed forward, "To sum it all up, the hardware was only included in first generation Nerve Gears. If someone wanted music player compatibility with SAO, that person would either have needed to have in depth knowledge about Sword Art Online in order to create homebrew software and a modded Nerve Gear custom made for Sword Art Online's programming script..." Kirito paused with a sombre look, "Or one the original 100 intentionally upgraded and specified to something like SAO."
Given what he had seen from Naruto so far, Kirito placed him as a casual gamer and hacker at best, which ruled out the former and he doubted that Naruto was capable of upgrading an original Nerve Gear on his own.
She frowned slightly, "I think I understand what you're saying, but you can't believe that he is Kayaba Akihiko himself can you?"
"Not personally no, their personalities are far too different to be faked, but if we consider the level of knowledge he has displayed about Sword Art Online so far and the way he hunts for exploits or bugs, I'd say he was at least close enough to someone on the production team to have seen a rough draft of the encoding to know where to start looking, and since Kayaba Akihiko made this game almost on his own..." Kirito trailed off uncomfortably, he was not used to intense discussions such as this with another person, far more used to dealing with problems on his own.
"Why can't he be one of those personal collectors you mentioned? If he could afford an original Nerve Gear, it stands to reason that he could afford to pay someone to upgrade it for him." Asuna defended hesitantly.
"I actually agree with you there," The black haired boy allowed, "That's why I'm not asking him right now. I'm not very good at stuff like... interpersonal relationships so I just want to see if you noticed anything beforehand..." He shook his head, "Wait... never mind… I'll find out myself. Sorry for bothering you."
The girl, whose biggest problems half a year ago was what clothes to wear to a date groaned softly as the raven haired boy stood up abruptly and left with a strange expression.
Why did it feel like things were just getting more and more complicated each day?
****The Hunter****
At the back of the shop, a shadow figure made her way through the jumble of mess as she looked for an escape route when she found an open window.
It was a little too small for her but it should suffice. She would rather fall to her death rather than act like a clown.
Running her blade amongst the side of the black knee length skirt to make it easier for her to move, Lightning slipped out the window when a strong wind nearly blew off the. Swallowing the thick lump in her throat, the swordswoman set her mind to it and wedged her swords into the crevices in the brick wall, using them like improvised grips. Painstakingly, the pink haired woman began to nimbly climb down the three story house before finally dropping down the last ten feet or so with a grunt.
Landing with a loud clack of her awkward heels, the pink haired woman sighed in relief and stood up.
Then she turned around and slowly paled at the sight of a very familiar blonde standing there and looking like the only reason his jaw wasn't already on its way to the centre of the earth was because of the paved bricks in its way, completely ignorant of the two ice creams were slowly melting in his hands.
"You saw." Lightning noted with a dangerously calm tone.
The blonde looked like he wasn't sure if he wanted to jump and thank the heavens or bolt for the nearest bomb shelter.
"You. Saw." She repeated with a slightly more dangerous edge.
The blonde mutely shook his head as he took a step back.
"Don't tell anyone I was wearing black."
"Huh? But you were wearing white….." the blonde shut his mouth with a loud click though he was a little too late as Lightning immediately began advancing on him with her swords unsheathed and a completely evil smile on her face.
"Fu-GYAAAAAH!"
****The Hunter****
Random Omake
Play Supercell - Kare
Asuna watched as Kanno moodily walked around the compound with his head hung low and pouted childishly.
The blonde looked up from his work as the door to his office opened without so much as a knock, "Neh….. Narutooo," Asuna said sultrily, "I need your hel-."
"No."
"Ehh! You rejected me so swiftly and simply." Asuna fake sobbed into her hands.
"Because I already know it's going to be something really troublesome." Naruto replied promptly in a dry tone.
The brown haired girl pouted at him again, "Eeeeh! How would you know what I want your help with?!"
"I….." he got the impression that he'd be treated like a stalker if he told her that he'd been watching her.
"I…?"
"Wha-Whatever, I know you want me to help that guy from your Division get together with Otome from mine right? That's why I said No. it's too troublesome."
"Muu…" Asuna sidled up to the blonde with a sly expression, "Pretty please?"
A shiver ran down his back, "Ku…. I-I-... what makes you think I'd know how to get them together!?"
"Eeh… but you always know how to get people to cheer up, so I figured…."
"I've never even dated before." Naruto spluttered in embarrassment, "Cheering people up is one thing, but dealing with lo-lo-love is a whole different kettle of fish!"
"Oho?" Asuna got closer and closer, "Are you sure you won't do it? For me?"
Steam started escaping the blonde's ears, "I… I might have some idea…" he muttered quietly.
"That means you'll help! Yay!" Asuna cheerfully pumped her fist in to the air, "What do you need me to do?"
Naruto rubbed his temples with resignation, "There's a room downstairs that we don't use. When I give you the signal, get Otome in there."
Later.
"Kanno. Come here for a bit." Naruto called out to the lanky man in brown.
The man smiled weakly, "Is there something I can help you with, Joker-sama?"
"Not really." He nodded as the two of them began walking together, "I heard that you've been losing focus in practice lately."
"Oh, that… I just feel a little tired recently that's all." He made a weak laugh.
"Uh huh, and you staring over at the archery field had nothing to do with why Asuna knocked you out during today's practice."
"Oh….. uh…." The man bit his lip, uncertain of how to bluff his way out, "I'-I'm sorry, it won't happen again!"
"I'm sure you will, however, that's not the reason I'm asking you this," Naruto noted, "I'm asking why you haven't gone and asked Otome out yet."
The man stood stock still and slowly turned a bright red all over his body, "Jo-jo-jo-joker-sama!?"
Sighing, he patted the man's back, "I'm not sure about the Sweepers, but I can tell you that everybody in the Archer division noticed you looking at her, and we both know that she steals a few glances back from time to time. So why haven't you done anything yet?"
The man instantly drooped as they entered the inn, "I-I'm not confident enough… I mean, it's a little scary you know, back then I'm just this half assed student from a second rate college. Otome she… she looks so beautiful and confident, I just don't think she'd go for an otaku like me."
"That's up to her to decide isn't it?" Naruto asked simply, knowing the stigma of being an otaku was still prevalent even in this day and age, "Then again, I'll be frank and say that if she can't accept you as an Otaku, then the two of you wouldn't have been suitable for each other anyway, not unless the two of you can tolerate the other's flaws."
Kanno chuckled weakly as they came to a deserted part of an inn, "Thanks for coming out and talking to me like this, Joker-sama … D-do you have any idea about how I should start talking to her? I mean, it'd look pretty weird if I suddenly just came up to her and asked to chat."
"Yes." Naruto answered easily, "Talk about how you got locked in a room with her."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Naruto booted him through the door and locked it with his authority.
Kanno stumbled into the room and whirled around in confusion, "Joker-sama!?"
"An-Ano…. Kanno-san?" his heart skipped a few beats as he heard the voice of an angel, soft and feminine. Slowly, he turned around jerkily to stare at the woman with shoulder length wavy brown hair in light leather armour staring at him.
"O-o-o-Otome!?" He cursed his throat for suddenly sounding painfully squeaky.
The sound of the lock sliding into place with a loud click reverberated in the room.
Kanno whirled around to stare at the locked door, 'THAT's your big idea, you sonovabitch!?'
The brown haired girl gained a wry expression as she understood what was happening, "It looks like Joker-sama and Asuna-sama were conspiring against us. With those two working together, it was pretty much a given." She gently took a seat on a chair; the plain table in the middle of the room was already preloaded with dinner, "So…. shall we have dinner?" she asked with a sweet smile.
The dark haired man stared at her incredulously for a few moments before chuckling helplessly, "Might as well not let the food go to waste. I'm still going to get him back for this."
With Naruto.
As Naruto turned the corner, he came face to face with a dry look from Asuna, "Lock them in a room together? Seriously?"
"I did say that I had no idea how to deal with this." Naruto pointed out with a dry look of his own.
Asuna kneaded her palm to her temples and sighed, "I guess it'll have to do. If anything, they'll have time to talk. That might be just what they need." She linked arms with him, "Oh well, I guess I owe you dinner."
"I demand food from the best restaurant, beef steak and wine." Naruto declared in a pompous manner, causing Asuna to poke him in the side indignantly.
"Sorry, ramen is all you get. Home cooked." Asuna cheerfully said as the two of them walked along the corridor awash in a beautiful orange light of a setting sun that set her long tresses alight like burnished bronze.
"You sound disturbingly cheerful. Incidentally, home cooked by whom exactly?"
"Me of course."
Naruto gave her a strained smile, "I'm about as scared of your cooking as I am of those spiders."
The girl shuddered, "Please don't remind me. Not after I finally got used to them."
"Aww.. Don't be mean. They were just introducing themselves to you." The blonde gently teased his friend with a wide smirk, "In fact, the way they jump on you and pin you the ground while they try to lick your face are sort of like puppies. If puppies were 8 feet tall with hoarse spiky hair and disgusting, clicking mandibles that is."
"You say anymore and I'll force feed you with my best dish."
"Can I start running in the opposite direction?"
"Nope."
"Can I at least ask what level your Cooking skill is at now?"
"150?"
"This is gonna suck isn't it?"
"You don't want it?"
"Meh. I'll eat every bite."
Asuna hummed in contentment as she leaned against the taller man a little, "You always do that no matter how bad it tastes."
****The Hunter****
Post Edit note from Kur0: Kishi absolutely refused to let this 'blatantly fluffy piece of writing that has absolutely no subtlety whatsoever' to go into the chapter, so I sort of used it as an Omake instead. And I was pissed that there was not much Asuna in this chapter. Bleeeh Kishi.
*Cough* let's all pretend this is Hunter-verse canon anyway shall we?
ROMANCE BANZAI!